Malafau and Meten villages on the Northwest part of Efate are the most recent beneficiaries of UNELCO electricity service with Malafau being electriced in 2021 followed on by Meten in 2022. Since then the villagers have been taking advantage of this essential service that improved their way of living by providing power for better lighting, mobile phone charging and for power tools required for building projects throughout the two villages.
Chief Edward Kaloris Matokoale of Meten village in his closing remarks during the session on Monday highlighted that the villagers were happy to finally have access to electricity however, as new consumers, they were still coming into terms with the challenges that this new service imposed on the community. He highlighted that the cost of electricity has now become an household expense that a lot of members of the community have very little knowledge of. He acknowledged the Utilities Regulatory Authority (URA) for taking the time out to visit Meten and conduct awareness on the UNELCO electricity price.
On Monday the 12th of June 2023, URA Teams conducted awareness at the Malafau women’s center and the Meten NTM Church, from 9am to 12pm.
The URA team not only informs the customers, but also welcomes any comments or queries raised in relation to the presentations or any other areas related to their electricity services. Any urgent queries or matters raised are registered for further deliberations with UNELCO going forward.
So far, the URA Team have received a lot of positive feedbacks from the communities of Northwest Efate at which awareness campaigns have been conducted; these included Mangaliliu, Napko, Tanoliu, Ulei as well as Siviri at North Efate, and this week they were at Malafau and Meten.
The URA will be conducting awarenesses every Monday for the rest of this month of June 2023. Upcoming sessions have been scheduled for North Efate Communities of Saama and Emua on the 19th of June 2023 and Paonagisu on the 26th of June 2023. Electricity customers in neighbouring communities are encouraged to attend as well.
Public is encouraged to follow us on URA’s official Facebook page 'Utilities Regulatory Authority - URA of Vanuatu‘.